Case Number 05449

CREEPSHOW 2: DIVIMAX EDITION

The Charge

"Thanks for the ride, lady!"

Opening Statement

Heh, heh! Back again, eh kiddies? Back for more chills and shivers! Well come
in, come in! This is your creepy critic of celluloid crud, your purveyor of
punitive power, all ready to deliver another rancid review! Just sit yourself
down and we'll take a loathsome look at a new horror anthology on DVD from the
depths of my cobwebbed collection...a dreadful digital diversion I like to
call...Creepshow 2 !

Facts of the Case

The first of the film's three vignettes, "Old Chief Wood'nhead" is
a revenge tale that centers on a general store in a dying town. In order to pay
his respect to the generous old couple who run the store (George Kennedy, The
Boston Strangler and Dorothy Lamour, Road to Singapore), Native
American leader Ben Whitemoon (Frank Salsedo, Almost Heroes) presents
them with his people's most valuable possessions. That night, Ben's
disrespectful son Sam (Holt McCallany, Fight Club) and his cronies break
into the store to grab the stash just as the wooden Indian outside the store
mysteriously begins to stir.

"The Raft" finds a group of four carefree teens (Paul Satterfield,
Bruce Almighty; Jeremy Green Hotshot; Daniel Beer Point
Break; and Page Hannah, Gremlins 2) headed to the country for an
afternoon of partying. They all swim out to a wooden raft anchored in the middle
of a lake, where they notice a floating amorphous blob in the water is following
them. As they try to figure out exactly what it is, the gooey mess begins
absorbing them one by one.

"The Hitchhiker" has Annie Lansing (Lois Chiles, Broadcast
News) trying to speed home before her husband after a late night visit to
her gigolo. On the way, she loses control over the car, accidentally running
over a guy trying to thumb a ride home (Tom Wright, Barbershop).
Flustered, she zips away, but even death won't stop this hitchhiker from
reaching his destination -- his increasingly mangled corpse keeps popping up to
say "Thanks for the ride!" as he tries to claw his bloody way into the
seat beside her.

The Evidence

The original Creepshow saw the frightening tag-team of author Stephen
King and director George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead)
collaborating on five horror vignettes based on Tales From the Crypt,
The Vault of Horror, and The Haunt of Fear, EC Comics's well-loved
line-up of horror comics from the early 1950s. With jaw-dropping twist endings,
black humor, and as much blood and gore as prevailing taste would allow,
publisher William Gaines's groundbreaking comic books have provided ample
inspiration for filmmakers over the years. Their influence can be seen as early
as the 1960s in Dr Terror's House of Horrors and The Torture
Garden, horror compilations made by British horror outfit Amicus. Later, in
the '70s, Amicus made The Vault of Horror andTales from the Crypt,
two anthologies that were directly adapted from stories published in the
infamous comics.

Not hitting theatres for another decade, the first Creepshow
significantly upped the ante for horror compilation films. George A. Romero's
unique directorial style highlighted each emotionally packed scene with
off-kilter shots and colorful lighting to replicate the pulpy shocks of the
comics. Coming five years after the original, Creepshow 2 is not even
close to matching the ghoulish glee of the original, but it still has some
moments of interest. With Romero and King's names still associated with the
production (although in a much smaller capacity), horror fans have helped to
give the film a faithful cult following on home video.

In the director's chair this time is Michael Gornick, Romero's
cinematographer of choice from Martin through to Day of the Dead,
a seven-year run that included the original Creepshow. Although Gornick
intended to give the film the same strong affinity with the horror comics that
inspired the series, he can't quite get the graphic look down, with only
"Old Chief Wood'nhead" offering hints of the skewed camera angles that
made the first film so notable. Beyond the nature of the stories themselves, the
sole EC "tribute" is worked into an animated wraparound story.
Unfortunately, what might have worked as a macabre little tale about a boy who
finds the answer to his bully problems in an ad in the back of his brand new
issue of Creepshow is sunk by a kiddie Saturday morning animation style
that doesn't match the tone of the stories. Also complicating things is the fact
that the sequel was made not by Warner Bros. but by schlock house New World. To
satisfy the unwritten code of b-studio horror, both swearing and brief nudity
are awkwardly worked into each vignette, distinctly violating any association
with the comics.

The stories themselves are a mixed bag. The less said about "Old Chief
Wood'nhead" the better, a wholly predictable little tale that forgets to
pack a final punch. Fans of the comics and even the original film will be quite
familiar with the "retribution" angle, but the story itself is of a
quality more likely to appear in a shoddy knock off of Tales From the
Crypt than the original comic. The addition of George Kennedy and Dorothy
Lamour and some good effects keep interest throughout, but ultimately the story
ends up to much like its subject -- a wooden fable given just enough life to
perform its gruesome task.

Unlike the other vignettes, screenwriter Romero adapted "The Raft"
from one of King's published stories in Skeleton Crew. This segment is
floated by some neat, if slightly low-tech, effects and a good twist ending. The
teen actors are as annoying and disposable as in any slasher epic, but this
actually works for the story, and you shouldn't be too surprised to find
yourself rooting for the blob. A fun, but ultimately forgettable entry.

Saving the best for last, "The Hitchhiker" is a gory update of a
classic Lucille Fletcher story. The basic plot has been filmed twice before
under the same name, as an Ida Lupino film and a Twilight Zone episode in
which a woman keeps seeing the same derelict on every stop of a cross-country
road trip. This story is surprisingly theatrical, with Lois Chiles delivering
what amounts to a 30-minute monologue as she makes her way home struggling with
her guilt -- not exactly common practice for an exploitive teen horror flick.
She's a distinct improvement over most of the young actors in the film, but
again she's outdone again by the superlative effects, which close the film on a
high note -- at least until the final installment of the mediocre cartoon starts
up again.

Admittedly, the stories are on a whole weaker here than they are in the
first Creepshow, and the sequel occasionally comes of more like three
strung-together television episodes of Tales from the Darkside (which
Gornick had recently shot) or the HBO series Tales from the Crypt. While
macabre enough by those standards, it isn't in the same league as the better
horror anthologies we've seen throughout the years. To be fair though, the film
was fraught with production problems, which makes what really works about the
film -- the effects and Lori Chiles's performance in the last story -- that much
more notable. Another nice addition is "The Creep" (played, but not
voiced, by Tom Savini), a horror host who appears in both animated and
live-action sequences, and wisecracks in the same jugular vein as the Crypt
Keeper and EC's other GhouLunatics.

As a minor 1980s horror film, Creepshow 2 may be an unlikely
candidate for a remaster in Anchor Bay's "Divimax" series, but here we
are. Although the film itself probably isn't good enough to justify the double
dip, horror fans that have been on the fence over this nostalgic guilty pleasure
will certainly want to add this one to their collection. This release sports a
bright, clean, high-def transfer that is free of any defects. The film is quite
sharp, with good black levels and shadow detail throughout. New to this version
is a Dolby 5.1 remix that adds some nice atmospherics without being overbearing.
It's a nice improvement over the previous release's stereo mix, which is also
included alongside the original, cramped mono.

A commentary track featuring Michael Gornick interviewed by Anchor Bay's
Perry Martin is the best in this disc's solid selection of extras. Gornick
provides a lively talk about all elements of the film, focusing on the many
problems he encountered. Martin also does a good job at keeping the track moving
and interesting. The original Creepshow is brought up quite a bit, which
is also nice in light of Warner Brothers' barebones disc. Howard Berger and Greg
Nicotero from KNB EFX Group are interviewed for "Nightmares in Foam
Rubber," a 30-minute special-effects documentary that offers up some great
behind-the-scenes footage and gives a nice counterpoint to Gornick's commentary.
Also on board are two trailers, still and storyboard galleries, and the original
script accessible via DVD-ROM. All in all, a nice package.

Closing Statement

Heh, heh...what's that? You hoping for a little more plot -- graveyard plot,
that is? Well, if this new high death-inition, wide-scream release isn't enough
to tempt you, than nothing will. Besides, didn't your mummy tell you not to
spend all your nauseating nights watching horror DVDs anyways? They'll rot the
bloodshot eyes right out of your sickening sockets...and then all of your
purchases will be blind buys!

The Verdict

My vile verdict is innocent -- the only guilty party here is myself for this
irredeemably icky impression!